Assembly LVII : The Performing Arts at Yale
Executive Summary
Presidential Update

Following her remarks, Ms. Doran introduced President Richard C. Levin ’74 PhD, who welcomed the delegates and reported on the following matters of interest to alumni:

• The Tercentennial event “Opening Yale 300” was an extraordinary success. It brought 30,000 people to the campus and sent a wonderful message that Yale is an accessible resource for the community. The Tercentennial Committee is currently considering ways of doing this on a smaller scale on a more regular basis.

• Yale has announced a $250 million renovation and expansion of the arts area complex and listed the planned buildings and renovations. Altogether, the University will renovate 500,000 square feet and add 275,000 more devoted to the fine and performing arts.

• Yale is seeing progress on its announced $1 billion initiative in science and medicine. $500 million will be devoted to new facilities on Science Hill and another $500 million to the Medical School. Of particular note on Science Hill is the Environmental Science Center currently under construction and a chemistry research building, which is still in the planning stages. President Levin was especially pleased to announce that Yale College Class of 1954 is providing the University with a gift of $70 million in support of the sciences. Fifty million dollars will go to support the two Science Hill buildings. The remaining $20 million will go into a matching fund to support other University priorities.

• The University Alliance for Life-Long Learning has been established with the full participation of Oxford, Princeton and Stanford. Herbert M. Allison Jr. '65, former president of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., will serve as president and chief executive officer of the new, independent venture. President Levin emphasized that the online courses will be a truly interactive experience, quite different from the normal classroom, but no less stimulating and exciting. Faculty have begun to design courses expressly for the combined alumni of the four institutions.

• Finally, President Levin described in detail the recent economic growth in New Haven through Yale-affiliated biotech startups. To keep up with the demand for laboratory space, numerous buildings are being renovated, and it is estimated that within the next year New Haven will have a total of 1 million square feet of laboratory space available for use.

In the question and answer period, delegates asked President Levin whether the online courses would be for credit, how they would handle the problem of slow download time for the online course, and re-establishing ROTC on campus. One delegate brought up the idea of Yale having a national community service project as part of its Tercentennial celebration to commemorate its service to the nation.